Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text for today’s meditation is the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 25:14-30

"For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. ¹⁶ He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. ¹⁷ So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. ¹⁸ But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. ¹⁹ Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.' ²¹ His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' ²² And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.' ²³ His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' ²⁴ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, ²⁵ so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' ²⁶ But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? ²⁷ Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. ²⁸ So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. ²⁹ For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' (Mat 25:14 ESV)

Total Systems Services, Inc. otherwise known as TSYS is the world’s largest 3^rd party credit card processor. They had humble beginnings as a department of a bank where they started processing other bank’s credit cards. The growth was so big they were spun off as a separate company where the employees were investors along with the public. The company matched fifty cents to every employee dollar invested in the employee stock purchase plan. The company grew so fast they exhausted the supply of programmers in the area and had to start growing their own. Because of the employee shortage, the employees invested not only their money in the company, they invested time and talent. Overtime hours spent making what seemed like impossible deadlines was considered a normal work habit. The employees were fully invested in this new start-up company and their investment paid off. The company did so well that the stock split many times rewarding them with an excellent return on their investment.

Jesus is the master in the parable we read today. He is explaining to His disciples that He is going on a journey and He will return one day. He is referring to His ascension into heaven and his second coming. Before He ascended He gave the disciples a mission. Acts 1:8 where Jesus declares their mission; But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Act 1:8 ESV) Jesus went on His journey and left His servants behind to use the gifts He has given them. They were to go about the work of the kingdom of heaven. What is the goal of this work? We look to 1Tim 2:4; who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Ti 2:4 ESV)The work of the kingdom is to announce and proclaim salvation, Jesus death and resurrection, to the whole world. The disciples are investors just like the employees of TSYS. They invested time, I’m sure they spent countless overtime hours, they invested talent, Jesus gave them the ability to proclaim and heal, and they invested money, they worked to support themselves.

Through this parable Jesus tells them and us that He equips us with the material and personal resources needed for His kingdom work. The resources and material is our capital for our investment and He wants us to invest in His kingdom work. God uses the word and sacraments, Baptism and Holy Communion, as his means to bring people into the kingdom of God but He also created people, us, to proclaim the message to the world which requires gifts and abilities, money and energy all of which He has given us. Jesus has given us opportunities to invest that capital of gifts, capital that is not ours, it is His given to us to invest. God does allow us to use those capital gifts for personal purposes but we must remember the main purpose is for investing in the kingdom.

The two servants that invested their capital gift had excellent growth both doubling their investment. The kingdom of heaven is an excellent investment. Isaiah 55:10-11 explains why it is an excellent investment; "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, ¹¹ so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isa 55:10 ESV)You see the Word which you are proclaiming with your investment has a guaranteed return. It is guaranteed to accomplish God’s purposes and succeed in what He sent it for. Is there ever a guarantee on an investment? The employees at TSYS sure didn’t have a guarantee. It was a small company that could have failed. They invested themselves without a guarantee. What an encouragement Isaiah 55 is to invest yourself fully, invest yourself and your resources, it will not fail, and your investment is safe and guaranteed to grow.

Do we all have the same to invest? No, just like the servants each of us are given according to our ability. God asks us to manage no more than what He knows we can handle. So, if our investments are not the same the same is not expected of each of us. We should be careful not to be falsely modest about our abilities just to avoid our investment opportunities. After all our life is not our own. God will give us the wisdom and courage to do His work with confidence. We don’t want to be ungrateful to God; after all we are richly blessed with talents and resources. This kingdom work isn’t drudgery; we are dealing with things here on earth and in eternity. What a reward the kingdom of heaven is and we get to do trading in this valuable commodity. We get to employ our talents in the enterprises of the eternal God. Just as the servants were excited by their returns we too can see our returns in those that enter the kingdom of God and share in that excitement.

The gift, our abilities and resources, are just that, a free gift but with it comes accountability for those gifts of capital. As we can see the third servant experienced a tragic event when he had to account for the investment of his gifts. He tried all kinds of excuses but the fact of the matter was the he didn’t want to work for his master. He was content to be part of the household but left the doing to others. We can read what this looks like in James 2:17-26; So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. ¹⁸ But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder! ²⁰ Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"--and he was called a friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (Jam 2:17 ESV) Faith without works is what the third servant is displaying and he was cast out of the household as an enemy of the household for his lack of works. We too are accountable for the capital given to us to invest. The third servant should act as a warning to all who refuse to let their faith come into a life of action. The third servant had investment opportunities but he did not seize them. What will you do when investment opportunities arise in your life? Seize them in faith and courage and stand on the guarantee because your investment will grow in the kingdom of heaven. Growth in the kingdom is not of our doing just like the growth of the servants investment was not of their doing. There is no control when you invest yourself and that can be scary. When you are faithful and wisely use your talents, it pleases the Lord. The servants received praise for their commendable activity of their faith-life at their accounting. You and I to will face a day of accounting and you and I will not be perfect before the Lord. We are not perfect and we have not invested ourselves fully into the kingdom of heaven. You can repent of your poor investments of your capital and you can fall at the foot of the cross and seek pardon from the one that invested everything for you. Jesus invested his very life for you. His investment had amazing returns. The return on His investment of His life was the gift of forgiveness for you. Through this gift of forgiveness you and I are given power which enables us to be better investors of our God-given talents in the future.

The employees at TSYS fully invested themselves with all they had and without a guarantee; their investment created a world class business. The two faithful servants fully invested their gifts and received praise for their returns. You have a guarantee that our investment will grow the kingdom of heaven, invest yourself according to your ability and put your faith into action.

Amen